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roachboy · 03-29-2009, 04:02 PM

well, i got the idea that pithy little sentences were confused with directness were confused with openness by reading the thread.
and there typically is a demand that others adapt to one's communication aesthetic---you for example, make such demands alot, particularly when you get around to characterizing modes of expression that for whatever reason you don't particularly like. the question is not that such demands are floated: the question is whether the person that you make the demand of decides that it's worth taking up and whether, once it's taken up, they take it as binding. because in the end, you're right that the choices really come down to the interlocutor---a speaker can make all the demands he or she wants, but cant for all that impose on another a desire to take those demands seriously.

some of my attitude comes out of my version of the same thing as yours, except in my experience the demand was usually to "tell a nice straight story" because as a historian there's some imperative that the äverage joe"find what you're doing to be accessible. now i have no problem with being accessible really, but the place where i decided not to play along was with the rest of it--simply because i think it boxes you into a one-dimensional relation to the world. in the end, i don't think this was a result of any particular heroism on my part either, no Preservation of Authenticity--i just thought the demand was stupid and unnecessary and so decided it wasn't worth bothering with.

what's funny about this is that the demand came from a sense of being-threatened that didn't even originate with me, but rather with people i was associated with. so typically, the folk who would say this stuff had already said o you're a student of x, right? and from that point they weren't talking to or about me anyway.

it's like that with such things: it's so easy to substitute a cartoon and talk to or about that.

i'm not sure i understand the situation you say you're confused about jj: could you explain it more?

03-29-2009, 04:02 PM	#11 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	well, i got the idea that pithy little sentences were confused with directness were confused with openness by reading the thread. and there typically is a demand that others adapt to one's communication aesthetic---you for example, make such demands alot, particularly when you get around to characterizing modes of expression that for whatever reason you don't particularly like. the question is not that such demands are floated: the question is whether the person that you make the demand of decides that it's worth taking up and whether, once it's taken up, they take it as binding. because in the end, you're right that the choices really come down to the interlocutor---a speaker can make all the demands he or she wants, but cant for all that impose on another a desire to take those demands seriously. some of my attitude comes out of my version of the same thing as yours, except in my experience the demand was usually to "tell a nice straight story" because as a historian there's some imperative that the äverage joe"find what you're doing to be accessible. now i have no problem with being accessible really, but the place where i decided not to play along was with the rest of it--simply because i think it boxes you into a one-dimensional relation to the world. in the end, i don't think this was a result of any particular heroism on my part either, no Preservation of Authenticity--i just thought the demand was stupid and unnecessary and so decided it wasn't worth bothering with. what's funny about this is that the demand came from a sense of being-threatened that didn't even originate with me, but rather with people i was associated with. so typically, the folk who would say this stuff had already said o you're a student of x, right? and from that point they weren't talking to or about me anyway. it's like that with such things: it's so easy to substitute a cartoon and talk to or about that. i'm not sure i understand the situation you say you're confused about jj: could you explain it more? __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 03-29-2009 at 04:04 PM..